Beach Terrarium

Ingredients for INSTA-Beach: glass container, pebbles, rich soil, charcoal, succulents, shells, driftwood or bleached twigs/branches. I can smell the coconut. Shhh....hear that? The waves.

In Search Of Succulents

Southern Accents Magazine has a wonderful online section of 'flowers and plants'. Their articles are short, informative and gorgeous. Succulents have become the belle of the ball. Here are some succulent sources for you.

Conservatories & Orangeries

A conservatory is a glass and metal structure traditionally found in the garden of a large house or public park. Modern conservatories are smaller and are often added to houses for home improvement purposes. The traditional nineteenth century conservatory was a large greenhouse used for growing tender and rare plants, or, less often, for birds and rare animals – sometimes with the plants and animals living together. An orangery is similar to a large greenhouse or conservatory and was used originally to winter citrus trees and house exotic plants. Orangeries were first built within Europe in the 17th century, once glass making technology enabled the possibility to produce large areas of sheet glass. Northern Europeans traditionally used orangeries to cultivate citrus fruits such as oranges, limes and lemons hence the name. (HERE is an excellent article in Southern Accents Magazines) Orangeries were popular amongst the royal and aristocratic residences and were considered a status symbol, as peasants were not able to afford the expensive materials needed to build the Orangery. A grand place, for entertaining, relaxing with friends and family, or for just those delicious moments of private contemplation, an Orangery – with or without the plants and flowers that long ago flourished in these sheltered greenhouses – adds a treasured space to your home. Smaller garden conservatories became popular in the second half of the twentieth century, as places which are part-greenhouses, for conserving plants, and part-recreational, as a solarium or sun room. They are often used as an extra room rather than for horticulture. I think all that's changing. I see a huge shift in peoples' desire to grow house plants and more. In fact, I believe growing vegetables and flowers inside your own home is becoming quite trendy and acceptable. Exquisite.

The Sucky-Prickly Side Of Blogging

Remember when it was just a few of us? Remember we all had time to read each other's posts every single day? Remember when you actually felt as though you could leave spirited, lengthy, heart felt comments? Remember being up blogging in the middle of the night and you knew everyone else who was too? (and you wanted to pick up the phone to talk to them in person?) Remember when we used to support one another? Remember we supported every blogger unconditionally; encouraging them - a negative word would never be whispered in the blogosphere. Remember when there wasn't any competition or schmoozing for advertisers? Remember when we didn't even know how to load a photo or analyze traffic? Now there are millions of us. How does that work? Sucky-Prickly.

Sucky Olmsted

I am loving my new succulent plants. I can ignore them and they flourish. This is my first one. (love the pot) and now I have another one in a terra cotta pot. I believe that means that I officially have a collection of succulents. I think I will become a succulent expert and create a fun, garden inspired company called 'Sucky Olmsted' (do not steal this name or I will have to poke you with cacti when you're not looking) in honor of my Great Uncle.